Becoming An Entrepreneurial Phlianthropist

I recently read a great article by Darren Hardy who is the publisher of Success Magazine, one of my favorite publications,  talking about Entrepreneurial Philanthropy and how each of us can make a difference with even a small contribution.

We are all familiar with celebrities and others who support a variety of causes and who are able to raise tremendous amounts of money to benefit those worthy causes  and we recognize that this is a tremendous service that they provide to so many people.  As these people raise  millions of dollars and travel the world giving aid, we may think there is no way we could ever do something to make such a difference in the lives of others, after all, most of our checkbooks wouldn't allow us to compete to that level.

Consider this.   Knowing that we may not be able to open our checkbooks or travel the world to help others maybe we should learn how we can be of greater service to those immediately around us.  There was a 12th Century writer, Maimonides, who wrote the Eight Levels Of Charity,  the highest level says:

"When charity is dispensed with altogether by helping others   gain the wherewithall to earn their own living and thereby, making it unnecesaary for them to be dependent upon others."

Helping someone better their life, and more importantly their livelihood, by by helping them create their own business or market their particular skills or talents which result in their financial independence and success....  This is  the greatest form of philanthropy.